SALON/SANCTUARY CONCERTS opens its fifth season with Ethan Peck, Florencia Lozano and Steven Rattazzi, joining Grammy-nominated musicians Jory Vinikour and José Lemos in the return of "THE HEIRS OF TANTALUS" on September 19 and 21, 2013.

From the House of Atreus to the Palace of Nero, this will be a delightfully depraved brew of myth, decadence, and corruption.

Script by Erica Gould from Aeschylus, Euripides, and Suetonius
Music by Handel, Scarlatti, and Monteverdi
Stage Direction by Erica Gould
Program Concept by Erica Gould, Jessica Gould, and José Lemos

The concerts are set for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 and SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013 at 8:00pm at THE BROAD STREET BALLROOM, a former bank designed to replicate a Roman villa, 41 Broad Street, NYC 10004. Tickets: $25-$100 can be purchased on the Salon/Sanctuary website www.salonsanctuary.org or by calling Showclix at 1 888/718-4253.

Gregory Peck's grandson Ethan Peck (Ten Things I Hate About You), Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, Red Dog Howls, Dirty Story), and OBIE-award winner Steven Rattazzi (The Venture Brothers) join soprano Jessica Gould, countertenor José Lemos, Grammy-nominated harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, and members of The Sebastians Chamber Orchestra to open the fifth season of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts with an expanded run of the critically acclaimed site-specific opera-theatre project, The Heirs of Tantalus: From the House of Atreus to the Palace of Nero. Director Erica Gould (Neil LaBute's autobahn andStand Up, Dirty Paki Lingerie) stages the piece environmentally at the monumental Broad Street Ballroom--a repurposed bank originally designed to replicate a Roman temple. The script (constructed by the director), is drawn from text by Aeschylus, Euripides, and Suetonius. The music is by Handel, Monteverdi, and Scarlatti.

The interdisciplinary piece (conceived by Jessica Gould, Jose Lemos, and Erica Gould), explores the symmetry between the mythic characters of The Oresteia and the actual lives of historical figures living centuries later, illuminating the ways in which the political corruption and family intrigue of Nero's depraved court was eerily prefigured in the plays of the Greek tragedians, exploring the parallels and resonances of both Greek Tragedy and Roman History with the American political landscape of today. With the Truman Capote-like Roman historian Suetonius as our entertaining no-holds-barred witness and guide, his bitingly funny First century reportage intertwines with the soaring language of Aeschylus and Euripides and hauntingly beautiful music from operas and cantatas about Nero to create a funny, thrilling evening of music, drama, politics, and spectacle.

As the project's creators explain, "The degree to which the real relationship between Nero and his mother Agrippina parallels the mythic relationship between Orestes and Clytemnestra is uncanny. And Nero was apparently completely aware that he was playing out the story of the house of Atreus. As an amateur actor, Nero actually often played Orestes-his favorite role-and Suetonius tells us that when Nero set fire to Rome-the ultimate theatrical spectacle-he watched the conflagration from the "Mount of Mycenae," putting on his tragedian's costume and singing "The Fall of Troy" from beginning to end. As we leap forward in time, Baroque composers, in an attempt to recreate what they thought the Ancient Greek theatre must have been like, revisit these stories in their creation of the operatic form. Most often they chose themes from classical mythology, not history, but Nero, whose actual crimes not only mirror, but dwarf any myth the Ancient Greek imagination could conjure, was a subject to whom they return again and again."

Ethan Peck is the grandson of the late great Hollywood icon, Gregory Peck. From 2009 to 2010 he starred as Patrick Verona on "Ten Things I Hate About You," the ABC Family TV series, has guest starred on Gossip Girl, and in 2012 played Prince Maxon for the pilot adaptation of the popular book series. Film credits include Aaron Woodley'sTennessee with Mariah Carey and Adam Rothenberg, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, Adopt a Sailor with Peter Coyote and Bebe Neuwirth (for which he received the Best Actor award at the 2009 Sonoma International Film Festival), The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Twelve, In Time, The Wine of Summer, Mine Games, and the soon-to-be-released films Nothing Left to Fear (with Anne Heche, Clancy Brown and James Tupper) and Eden. NY theatre credits include Anna Ziegler's The Minotaur with Jill Clayburgh, Mario Cantone, and Campbell Scott directed by Erica Gould. Also a trained classical musician, Ethan plays the cello.

JOSÉ LEMOS was awarded both a 2003 and 2004 Tanglewood Music Fellowship, where he made his USA operatic debut in Zuidam's Rage D'Amours and in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon. He was the First Prize Winner and the Audience Prize Winner of the 2003 International Baroque Singing Competition of Chimay, Belgium, made his European debut in 2005 at the Zürich Opernhaus as Nireno in Giulio Cesare in Egitto under the baton of Marc Minkowski, his debut as a soloist at Carnegie Hall in Mozart's Coronation Mass in 2009, and his debut at Avery Fisher Hall in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in 2010. Mr Lemos has performed many roles with Les Arts Florissants at Teatro Real in Madrid, Salle Pleyel in Paris, on tour across Europe, and on DVD with Virgin/EMI. Other credits include appearances at the Aldeburgh Festival in England Purcell's Faerie Queen under the baton of Harry Bicket, Narciso in Handel's Agrippinaconducted by Marc Minkowski at Zürich and Royal Festival Hall, Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with the Seattle Early Music Guild directed by Stephen Stubbs, and Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto conducted by Nicolas McGegan at the Göttingen Handel Festspiele in Germany. With the Boston Early Music Festival, Lemos sang the roles of Nerea in the 2011 production of Niobe, the Spirit in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas in 2010, and Silène in the 2007 production of Lully's Psyche which was released on the German label CPO and nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award.